Carbohydrate residues in non-malignant prostatic epithelium as revealed by lectins

Non-neoplastic prostatic epithelium from 39 patients obtained at transurethral resection for outflow tract obstruction and 5 normal prostates from men under 35 years of age obtained at postmortem were formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded. The distribution of 8 lectin receptors were studied using a peroxidase anti-peroxidase method and an avidin-biotin method. Con A, WGA, and PNA bound to most epithelial cells. Con A and WGA also showed major stromal binding. Approximately 5% to 10% of cells bound UEA1, GS1, DBA, SBA and BPA. No major differences in lectin receptor expression were observed between normal and hyperplastic epithelium with either of the immunohistochemical techniques except that hyperplastic cells stained more strongly than normal epithelium.